Advising with empathy and experience

Cervical cancer death of young woman.


A young woman has died after losing her battle with cancer which doctors dismissed as ‘growing pains.”

Kirstie Wilson, 21, from Bexleyheath, was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer when she was 17 after refusing to accept the original diagnosis that her stomach cramps were growing pains.

After being dismissed by her GP three times, she insisted on being referred to a specialist. The specialist authorised a smear test which detected abnormal cells which further examinations found to be cancer.

Despite undergoing surgery and being given the all clear, the disease returned and she died in September 2015.

Miss Wilson’s father, Gary, a banker, said: “It was Kirstie’s character and determination that prolonged her life. Right up until the end she was positive, fighting. She was one-in-a-million as a daughter, I couldn’t have asked for anyone better.

“She died peacefully in her own bedroom just as she had wanted, surrounded by her family and her memorabilia.”

The NHS offers a free cervical screening test to all women aged 25 to 64 every three to five years but Miss Wilson was not given it because cervical cancer is so rare in young women.

She went on to campaign for women to have smear tests on demand and for improved access to drugs on the NHS for cancer sufferers, and raised thousands for Cancer Research.

She was also involved in a petition criticising cuts to the Cancer Drug Fund and calling for a review of how cancer drugs are funded on the NHS.

In January, Miss Wilson said: “I had all the symptoms of cervical cancer but because I was 17 at the time, doctors ignored my concerns. It took me four months of going back and forth to my GP before I was given a smear test.

“I wish I had been given a smear test when I first visited my doctor, as it might have saved my life.”